Going Public

An uncommon noise was drifting from gate 4H in the Miami International Airport.. As passangers walked through the terminal, they stopped to observe the unusual. Forty teenagers waited by gate 4H for a plane to Panama City, and while they passed the time, they gathered around a casual guitar player to sing songs of praise. That's not something a frequent flyer sees everyday! And it's certainly not what I expected to be doing as my team waited to board the aircraft that would fly us to our final destination in Guatemala City. At first, only the guitar's strumming could be heard, but a few of our voices joined in and soon all forty of us were belting out praise to our Lord - right there at Gate 4H! I almost expected security to come over and tell us to be quiet or for some irritated traveler to command us to stop singing, but when I looked around at the people in the terminal, no one seemed annoyed. Some people scooted closer to take pictures and videos, some just stood and watched us from a distance, and some actually joined in! At one point, I just stopped singing to listen, and the sound I heard was angelic and beautiful in all its blended sopranos and balanced harmonies. The acoustics in an airport are wonderful!

What struck me the most about our public praise of Jesus Christ was that no one seemed to be bothered. All the singers - they just sang for Jesus. And all the listeners - they just soaked it up and occassionaly joined in on a chorus. No one seemed offended by our public expression of faith, and no one seemed ashamed to declare the glory of our King! I'd never done something like that, so unplanned, so impromptu, so public! I had expected to begin our mission work in Guatemala, but my team taught me something in our time at Gate 4H. They demonstrated that evangelism is a lifestyle, not a mission trip. Evangelism is anywhere and everywhere, including an airport terminal. Because of our worship in such an unusual place, I was challenged to make my praise more public. Maybe I'll be more comfortable with praying in public, carrying my Bible for everyone to see, or just inlcuding the name of Christ in my conversations with people in the check-out lines. So I'm going public with my faith, and I will not be ashamed to publically proclaim that I love the Lord!